The cost of going to the movies is higher than ever, especially if you're in a big city like New York or Los Angeles, but you can cut that cost significantly by buying tickets in bulk from the theater's corporate web site. There are often two kinds of tickets: one that lets you into any movie anytime and one that lets you see a film that's been out for a couple of weeks. Film blog Not Worth Admission explains the details:

Regal Cinemas (which also includes United Artists Theatres and Edwards' Theatres) offers Premiere ($7.50) and VIP ($6.50) passes. We haven't bought these because they have a $1.50 Manhattan theater surcharge. Annoying, eh? Instead, we buy Gold ($7.50) and Silver ($6) passes from AMC (including Loews), who don't have a Manhattan premium. They also count towards the AMC Stubs program. The passes don't expire, which is nice. Other theater chains - even some of the smaller ones and also some independent theaters - have similar offerings. Almost sounds too good to be true, if it weren't for a few caveats.

The downside is that you'll still have to pay surcharges for 3D (bleh) and IMAX and you have to stand in line—there's no online ordering or using the automated ticket machines. Additionally, the up-front cost is pretty high as you have to buy at least 50 tickets in most cases, which comes out to a minimum of $325. Nonetheless, the passes don't expire and you'll save a lot of money over the long run. Here in Los Angeles, it's almost a 50% discount at AMC. Also, you can split the tickets with friends, family, your partner, or whomever. If you can spare the cash now and frequent a particular theater chain the savings will add up big in the long run.